WellBeing International WBI Studies Repository 6-2018 The Private and Free Roaming Street Dog Population in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India Tamara Kartal Humane Society International Amit Chaudhari Humane Society International Follow this and additional works at: https://www.wellbeingintlstudiesrepository.org/strfapop Part of the Animal Studies Commons, Nature and Society Relations Commons, and the Population Biology Commons Recommended Citation Kartal, Tamara and Chaudhari, Amit, "The Private and Free Roaming Street Dog Population in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India" (2018). Stray and Feral Animal Populations Collection. 6. https://www.wellbeingintlstudiesrepository.org/strfapop/6 This material is brought to you for free and open access by WellBeing International. It has been accepted for inclusion by an authorized administrator of the WBI Studies Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. SURVEY REPORT THE PRIVATE AND FREE ROAMING STREET DOG POPULATION IN COIMBATORE, TAMIL NADU, INDIA July 2018 Authors: Tamara Kartal and Dr Amit Chaudhari Prinicipal Investigator: Dr Shrikant Verma Executive Summary Humane Society International - India (HSI- India) together with Humane Animal Society (HAS) and a team of volunteers conducted two dog population surveys in 100 wards of Coimbatore, India (The 2011 census provides a human population of 10507211; An estimate from 2017 estimates a human population of 18900002). The first was a street dog survey and the other was a household survey of the private (pet) dog population and their owners. The survey generated an estimate of the street dog population of 46,292 dogs. Based on the 2011 census data this translates to 4.41 dogs per 100 humans or based on the 2017 estimate to 2.45 street dogs per 100 people; However regardless of the human population we found 8.87 street dogs per km and suggest to use this density for Coimbatore. Results from the household survey suggest that 20% of households own at least one dog. Based on the 2011 census data we estimate a private dog population of approximately 82,023 private dogs, about twice as many private dogs as street dogs. However, the overlap of street and roaming private dogs is unknown and assuming that the entire dog population is the sum of both estimates would be incorrect. We suggest that monitoring surveys and clinical data combined will genarate more accurate estimates over time. Sterilization rates were low in the private dog population with only 19% of dogs being sterilized, however the proportion of currently vaccinated dogs was significantly higher with 75% of private dogs being up-to date on anti-rabies vaccines. 1 http://www.censusindia.gov.in/pca/SearchDetails.aspx?Id=749391 2 http://indiapopulation2017.in/population-of-coimbatore-2017.html 1 Sterilization rates of street dogs vary from zone to zone and further between sub zones as well. The West zone and the Centre zone had the highest sterilization rates among all zones. We recorded 40.4 % sterilized dogs in West zone-1, 42.1 % sterilized dogs in West Zone-2, 48.6% sterilized dogs in Centre Zone-1 and 39.8 % sterilized dogs in Centre Zone- 2. Table of Contents Executive Summary ................................................................................................. 1 Background ........................................................................................................... 3 Survey Design and Methodology .................................................................................. 4 Results ................................................................................................................. 5 Street dog survey ................................................................................................. 5 Monitoring and survey consistency ............................................................................ 10 Household Survey ................................................................................................ 12 Care provided to private dogs in Coimbatore .............................................................. 13 Discussion ........................................................................................................... 15 2 Background Coimbatore also known as Kovai is a major city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu (Image 1). It is the second largest city in the state after Chennai and the 16th largest urban agglomeration in India. It is administered by the Coimbatore Municipal Corporation and is the administrative capital of Coimbatore district. In July 2018 HSI-India together with Humane Animal Society (HAS) agreed to conduct two surveys to explore and quantify different communities of dogs in the dog population of Coimbatore, the street and private dogs. Methodologies and results of the surveys are presented in this report. Image 1: Geographic location of Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu (Google Maps) 3 Survey Design and Methodology HSI conducted two surveys in Coimbatore, India, a street dog survey and a household survey. The street dog survey covered all 100 wards of 5 zones, which were further divided into 10 sub-zones for convinient data collection. Street survey objectives: Generate a reliable estimate of the relative and total dog population in Coimbatore Estimate the proportion of sterilized dogs in the street dog population in July 2018 Asses street dog welfare by tracking body condition score and skin conditions as a proxy measure Private dog survey (KAP) objectives: Generate an estimate of the private dog population Estimate sterilization and vaccination rates among privately owned dogs Assess the level of responsible dog ownership (in terms of confinement of the dog) Estimate the dog bite rate in Coimbatore Street Dog Survey To generate a dog abundance estimate (total dog population size) we created set routes, also called index or standard routes, in Google Maps along residential roads and highways but avoiding expressways (dogs tend to avoid these roads). Routes are marked with a starting (flag) and end point (police officer). For easy access, the routes are saved as KML files and stored in Google My Places, which can be accessed from smart phones (online and offline). A survey team, consisting of a driver and an observer mounted on motorcycles, conducts the surveys early in the morning at dawn time. The observer uses both the Google Maps app and the OSM Tracker app on a mobile phone. OSM tracker is an application that enables the observer to record a dog sighting and relevant specifics about a dog (female, male or unknown adult, sterile/notched female or sterile/notched male, pup, lactating) as well as record welfare indicators such as skin problems and body condition scores (C1 to C5), which are saved together with GPS coordinates of the sighted dog. OSM Tracker produces a track record of all sighted dogs and their specifics along the route which was followed during the survey. The data is subsequently downloaded and stored in an Access database for analysis. The survey route was surveyed on two consecutive days, by the same survey team, to measure the accuracy and power to detect change. Household survey The survey was conducted using the smart phone app Epicollect5, which contained a prepared survey form for Coimbatore. Households were surveyed by a team of two trained surveyors and questionnaires were about 5-10 mins in length. Questionnaires included or excluded questions depending on whether the household owned a dog or not. The survey sample size was set at a minimum of 385 households to reach a 95% confidence level. Inclusion criteria for households were: 4 Person had to be over 18 years old and resident at the address In case of dog ownership, the interviewee had to be the main care taker or at least well informed about the dog or dogs in the household Participants were asked to confirm their consent to be part of the study and had the option to opt-out before the interview started. Once questionnaires were completed, the filled-out forms were saved and uploaded to a cloud-based database by the surveyor. Household surveys were conducted with a systematic random sampling method, which samples a portion of the total available households in the area by randomly selecting the first household in the sample population, which was set as the 20th household counted from the set routes starting point (marked by a flag, Image 2). To obtain a representative sample, households were selected randomly following a pattern of every 20th household, either by foot or on a motorbike. Systematic random sampling in comparison to simple random sampling is less susceptible to researcher error. To remain consistent throughout the survey either the left or the right side was chosen to be the survey side. In case nobody was available at the tenth household, the ninth or the eleventh household was interviewed. Image 2: Map of Coimbatore including the survey routes (market with a flag and home symbol) Results Street dog survey Based on HSI’s long standing monitoring and evaluation surveys, we know that to an (yet undefined) extend dog densities depend on the human population and it’s density. To estimate a dog-human ratio we need the most recent census data, however in Coimbatore 5 the last census was in 2011. The 2011 census provides a human population of 10507213, however a webiste provides an estimate for 2017 of about 18900004. We found 8.87 dogs per km street length in the Municipal corporation Coimbatore and estimate a total dog population of 49,292. Based on the 2011